Which cities could host Eurovision 2025 in Switzerland?

Less than a week on, the Post-Eurovision Depression (PED) is real, but at least we already start to look forward to next year's Contest in Switzerland. But where will it be you ask?

Well it is expected we will know by September where the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest will be held.

The last time Switzerland hosted the Eurovision Song Contest was back in 1989, and they held it in Lausanne.

However, this is one city that has already ruled out its intention to submit a bid to host due to lack of suitable infrastructure. Things have certainly changed a lot since 1989!

Some of the criteria that are needed to submit a bid to be a host city include arena size, roof height and ability to host media/delegation centre etc, accommodation, good public transport options and an international airport close by.

Let's take a look at what we know so far and who some of the interested cities are.

Geneva

Geneva is Switzerland's second-largest city and appears it ticks all the boxes to host a Eurovision Song Contest.

Geneva has already proposed a venue which is the Palexpo Convention Center which has already hosted some large events including Davis Cup tennis. Palexpo has a capacity of 15,000 people plus an extra 2,000 delegation/media.

Further, next year's event is already mentioned on Palexpo's website. Geneva is also the first city to submit a formal application to host the Contest next year.

Geneva is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, in the very south-west corner of the country that borders France. The city has its own international airport (only six minutes to city centre on the train) and good rail connections both in the city and externally, including to Paris. Buses are also a good way to get around Geneva.

To Palexpo, it is approximately 10 minutes by train to the city centre, 40 minutes to Lausanne and is also reachable by multiple bus routes. As for accommodation options, Geneva has 95 hotels with almost 8,000 rooms.

Basel

Basel is Switzerland's third largest city and is located in the country's north and in the German-speaking region.

The city is pretty much on the border of where Switzerland, France and Germany meet each other, and because of this, the city is considered an international rail hub.

As well as having good international rail connections, Basel also has the largest network of trams in Switzerland.

Due to its proximity to Zurich, it only takes just over an hour on the train, which makes staying in Zurich an attraction accommodation option if Basel were the host city. There are approximately 10,000 hotel rooms in Basel and the city also has its own international airport.

No official venue has been named as part of Basel's bid, however, there is a venue just outside of Basel called St Jakobshalle that has been cited as a potential venue that has a 12,000 person capacity and is between 15 and 30 minutes by train. That venue holds the annual Basel tennis tournament and hosted international contests in handball, ice hockey and curling.

Zurich

Zurich is Switzerland's biggest city and is located in the north of the country, about an hour away from Basel, and is German-speaking.

Zurich has extremely good public transport with options of bus, trams, trains as well as boats, all of which can be accessed on the same ticket. The international airport is the largest in the country and services 60 different airlines and is also well connected to the city by train.

The Zurich Hauptbahnhof is the biggest and busiest train station in all of Switzerland. Zurich has approximately 199 hotels and of course other options such as Air BnBs.

While no venue has officially been announced as part of Zurich's bid, one possible venue could be the Hallenstadion which has capacity up to 13,000 and has hosted large concerts previously. Another option could be the much newer Swiss Life Arena which can hold approximately 12,000 which is currently used for ice hockey games.

St Gallen

St Gallen is a relatively small city in the north-eastern German-speaking part of Switzerland and is closer to neighbouring countries Austria and Liechtenstein than it is to Zurich. While St Gallen does have its own small international airport, Zurich's airport is 87 kilometres away with many more flight options. Unlike Switzerland's larger cities, St Gallen is not as well connected but does have buses and trains (and a good bicycle network) as well as intercity rail connections. As for accommodation, there are only 22 hotels in St Gallen and it is unknown how many other accommodation options exist.

The potential venue being put forward for St Gallen is Olma Hall which is a new convention centre that holds up to 12,000 people.

Other potential cities?

While not officially mentioned as putting in a bid to host Eurovision, Bern is one city that has also been suggested as a potential host city. Bern has 40 hotels, is well connected with public transport, is located in central-western Switzerland and has the PostFinance Arena which holds up to 17,000 people.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 winner Nemo has also suggested their home town of Biel as a possible host city.

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